Alexia the Murderer?
by Alexiamanda
Summary: A 13-year-old girl is framed for her mother's murder...or is she? Ack! I am such a horrible updater... Rating for further chapters (not telling why...heehee) but it's really not.
1. Default Chapter

**A/N: This is my first fic, but I'm used to rejection...so I'll set a quota for reviews- how about one? One little review is all I want. I've got the first five or six chapters written already, so one review is all it takes for me to post...**

School was normal for Alexandria Lavell, a normal day with almost no homework and plenty of free time to talk to her friends.

Plenty of annoying guys to trump in obvious academic superiority.

Plenty of swearing and country music on the bus.

Plenty of eye rolling and complaining.

It was a normal day.

But it was what she saw when she got home that made that day memorable.

She stepped off the bus and went to the mailbox like normal, rooting through the mail and finding bills and some magazine for her mom. Land's End.

Alexia noticed it was deadly quiet when she went inside. Too quiet. She kicked off her shoes and put her coat on the hook. Flinging her backpack down, she heard a faint clunk as it fell, but figured it was something in there. She had put so much random crap in there it was hard to keep it straight.

Was her mother sleeping? Or not? She wouldn't wake up if she opened the door, Alexia knew from experience. So she opened the bedroom door.

And screamed.

Inside, her mother was there, but she was in the eternal sleep pessimists call death. Alexia didn't think she'd wake up if she'd opened the door and started dancing around like a crazed monkey on drugs. At least, she believed she was dead at first glance. Her head was lying in a pool of congealed blood and her eyes were glazed over but still open. Her stomach was torn open like a pack of wild animals had gotten to her, her insides spilling out over the bed. She'd learned about it in Science, but she had never really wanted to see it.

Alexia screamed again and looked away, frantically trying to think of anyone, anything. Who to call? What to say? But she'd have to say the first and foremost question on my mind was: Who did it?

So she called her dad's workplace, NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. They took care of these things. 911 wouldn't help. No one was injured that could be helped. Alexia told the secretary that she had a murder to report and almost choked on the words.

She couldn't think of anyone else at the moment. Then she thought of her father. Where was he? He'd be so freaked out. She figured he was still at work, so she tried his number.

"Hi, this is Robert Lavell at NCIS. Please, leave a message if you have anything I want to hear."

_Beep_.

"Uh, I'm not sure if you want to hear this, but Mom's dead. Murdered, I think. Where are you? Please, pick up if you're there, this isn't a joke..."

If he wasn't at work, where would he be? Maybe they got him too? Alexia mulled this over while standing in shock for at least half an hour, pacing around and muttering to herself.

A knock on the door and the doorbell ringing made her jump again. She screamed a third time, too freaked out to say a word to herself.

"Is this the Lavell residence?" the front man said, a silver-haired man.

"Um...yes- who wants to know?" she answered.

"NCIS, Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I understand a...Lieutenant Samantha Lavell was murdered?"

Alexia nodded mutely, gesturing to the bedroom, the sickening image coming back to her.

"Um, is your father home?" another man said as the first one entered the house.

She shook my head. "I- I tried him at work, he wasn't there. Uh, I don't know where he'd be."

The silver-haired man nodded at her and pointed at the bedroom.

Alexia nodded back. "Uh, yeah, that's the crime scene."

He left abruptly.

"Hey, who're you?" yet another man in the doorway.

"Oh, that's suave, Tony, very suave," the remaining member, a woman, told him, rolling her eyes.

She grinned. They weren't as uptight as the silver-haired guy.

"I'm Alexia...that's my mom in there..."

"I'm Kate," the woman told her with a smile. "That distasteful man is Tony."

"I'm Tim-"

"McGee," Tony interrupted. "Or Probie, take your pick."

"Tony, it's his name-"

"My name is Tim McGee, but he calls me-"

"Since when are you allowed to introduce me-"

"Since when are you allowed to introduce other people as the way they don't want to be-"

"KATE! DINOZZO! MCGEE! GET IN HERE!" the first man screamed from the bedroom.

Alexia was laughing by now. She personally liked the name McGee. It fit him.

"And that would be Gibbs..." Tony trailed off, smiling at her.

She grinned back. Feeling better, she left the four agents to do their jobs.

But once Alexia was in the kitchen, she looked at her clumsy way of putting her school stuff away and rolled my eyes. Her mom was a stickler for cleanliness- or she _used _to be.

_Stop that_, Alexia told herself, slapping herself mentally again. To keep herself busy, she looked at the fridge for something to eat. Finding nothing, she sat out in the living room on the couch for about an hour in misery until the agents finished.

Where could her dad be? He worked with NCIS- she at least had gone to his workplace many times, seen him there, but she didn't know where he'd be...

She picked up the magazine her mom had gotten today and flipped through it. Nothing but overpriced stuff that she didn't need anyways.

There was another ring at the door. Alexia got up cautiously to answer it, leaving the four agents in the bedroom.

Opening the door, she saw a familiar face.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Teehee, I do believe I forgot the disclaimer...whoops.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this show. I do, however, own the plots, and the characters you don't recognize (Rob, Alexia, his team, and other people you'll meet later on).**

**That's over with. I guess I was just so caught up in the moment...of...I don't know, I really have no good excuse for not posting one before. Sorry! I'm trying to keep this a shipper-free story, but sometimes my mind always reverts back to Tate, so I read over what I've written and make sure nothing happens...**

**Oh, and a note on what happened with the "rolled my eyes" and all the other first person stuff in the other chapter: sorry! I originally wrote this from Alexia's view and went through and changed it to third person when I realized it wasn't working. So I've proofread these chapters rather carefully, but shun me if you want when you find a mistake...just tell me, please?**

**So the saga continues!**

**For you people out there who don't remember how the other chapter ended (so long ago, I know!), she opened the door and saw a familiar face...**

Along with three others.

"Dad!" she shouted, flinging herself at him for a hug. "What happened? Where were you?"

"Shut up," he told her, rudely pushing her away. What was with that? "We're here to investigate the crime scene. You didn't touch it, did you?"

"What?" Alexia tried to comprehend. "Gibbs and his team are already in there!" And as she spoke, the four in question came out of the room, Kate with a camera still around her neck.

Her dad's face twisted into an unexplainable expression. "What? Get them out of there!"

"But they're NCIS too-" Alexia started complaining, but was cut short by her father again.

"Shut up!"

She backed away, stung, as Gibbs looked back and forth between her dad and her. Her mom was dead, and all he could say to her was "shut up"?

"Why are you here?" Gibbs cut straight to the point, after pondering why this girl's dad wouldn't even look the slightest bit upset over the murder of his wife.

"We're investigating the murder of Lieutenant Samantha Lavell, Rob's wife," one of her father's team members, Jimmy Corbett, told them curtly.

"No, we are," McGee said, confused. "Aren't we?"

"Yes, Probie, we are," Tony told him. "But be quiet."

Alexia was still standing between the two teams, and so she backed up. "What's going on here? Why are there two teams?"

"Obviously a mix-up in the assignments," Kate said slowly.

"Yes, you're wrong," another member, Ethan Kustriz, snapped at her.

She raised her eyebrows and muttered, "Oh, am I? Well, someone's obviously a-"

Tony clapped a hand over her mouth before she could say another word.

"Listen, we're on this case. That's my _wife _in there," Rob told them, looking rather pitiful.

But to Gibbs he didn't seem very convincing.

"Oh- sorry, I didn't realize-" McGee furiously tried to apologize.

"Well, yeah, just get out of there and give us all the info you got," Ethan ordered, holding his hand out.

Kate crossed her arms in front of her, letting the camera hang down over them in a defiant gesture. "Gibbs?"

He furrowed his brow; it looked like something didn't seem right. But he seemed to consider that it was Rob's wife. "Yeah, Kate, give it to him." They'd come back and check on it.

"What? We're giving up the case that easily?" Tony argued, on Kate's side.

"Hey, that's his wife and that's his daughter," Ethan sneered. "Can't you at least let him solve the case for himself?"

Kate glared at him but handed over the camera. Then she turned to Tony and asked, "What's his daughter got to do with anything?"

Alexia had been wondering that herself.

Tony shrugged.

And Rob looked victorious.

In the next hour his team (him, Jimmy, Ethan, and another annoying member named Chris Mauel) gathered up Gibbs's info and took some pictures and sketches of their own. They looked rather gleeful to Alexia.

Gibbs's team was gone. Rather that Chris had literally pushed them out the door.

Rob hadn't said a word to his daughter except for "shut up". He had been acting weird the last couple of months, but he said he didn't like teenagers. But really, she was what, 13? Barely a teenager...he was getting along fine with Mom though. From what she had saw. Maybe there was something else- but he couldn't bring himself to murder his wife, could he?

**A/N: Sorry it's so short, but I was going to end it earlier, but I figured it needed more words. Thanks to all the reviewers, and my first reviewer, Christieanne-Anna, and my second, gotmilk, for as I write this there are no more...sniffle...oh well. Heehee, I read gotmilk's review in school and my friend (who I have a character based on later) thought I was crazy because she hadn't read the story yet. So she was reading it and was like "What? I think I'd be more upset if my mother was gutted- oh, eeeew!" Then she read the story and was freaking out when I described Alexia's mother being dead. Not even that grisly, compared to what I could've put...so anyway, that's my little story in a story. Sorry to anyone who bothered to read this pointless author's note. This is just what's going through the author's mind at the moment.**


	3. Mysteries revealed not

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Third chapter's a bit longer, and I apologize for any errors I may have made...shame on me, shame! Again, one review is all I want, one tiny little review, so please, please, read and review and tell me anything I'm doing wrong! I like being criticized...makes me feel wanted...**

Ethan, the most annoying of the team, had this irritating smirk on his face from square one, so to get away from them, she went into her room and called her best friend Katie.

She almost choked on the words when Katie answered the phone. "Uh- hi."

"Hey, what's up? I saw some other cars over at your house today- having a party?"

She suppressed a sob. "Uh- no, um, that's the police. Well, NCIS, really."

Katie paused. "Oh. Why are they over there?"

Katie's mom was in the Army, and she got along well enough with Alexia, even if her mom didn't really like the Navy. Her dad and mom had divorced about two years ago, and her mom had gained permanent custody because her dad had been picked up two months after they'd split and he was taken to a mental hospital. He had slowly been going crazier and crazier until he couldn't take it anymore and finally killed himself one day by suffocation, and had left a suicide note. It had been hard on Katie, but Alexia had helped her deal with it, and Alexia now knew how she had felt.

Alexia avoided the question. "Before we left for school this morning, did you hear any...any gunshots?"

"No...why? Did someone get shot?"

"Yeah."

Katie gasped. "Who!"

"Mom."

Silence. Then, "I'm so sorry, Alexia...did your dad take the case?"

Alexia nodded and then realized Katie couldn't see her. "Um, yeah, he did; he's over here now."

"Do you want me to come over there?" Katie sounded sympathetic, but that was the kind of person she was.

"Sure- but I don't think- I don't think I want you to see the body-" She paused. "Never mind, I think Mom- the body's already wrapped up."

"I'll be over there in under ten minutes- hang tight, okay? Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just, please, hurry. Dad's really starting to freak me out. He's not being very...shall we say...comforting?"

"Oh...listen, I'm really sorry, Alexia. I'll be over as soon as I can."

Alexia swallowed but ended the conversation. "Bye."

"Bye."

Rob apparently had heard her talking on the phone and came in now, and Alexia looked at him carefully.

Alexia saw he didn't look upset in the least. Like he'd expected it. But he loved Mom; he wouldn't kill her. She knew that, she would've told Alexia. Mom always told Alexia to tell her if something was bothering her, and she confided everything in Sam, knowing there was no one she'd tell.

Now it was different. She was gone, and she wasn't coming back. She was probably in a body bag by now, her insides either cleaned up or dumped back inside her. The bedroom was most likely being picked over and sterilized at the same time, and Alexia would be questioned, no doubt.

"Who was that?"

"Katie."

"Oh. Is she coming over?"

Alexia nodded sulkily.

"Make sure she doesn't disturb the crime scene, okay?" He seemed gentler now, but Alexia couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

He left her room and went back to the bedroom.

She sighed. She had homework, might as well do it. Besides, it would keep her occupied and her mind off of her mother while Katie was over- and she could help Alexia with her algebra, seeing as she didn't understand anything her teacher said.

So she went out to her backpack. Ethan was in the kitchen.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," Alexia answered frostily, unzipping her backpack with a forceful gesture.

"I'm investigating your mother's murder."

"And I live here. No, you idiot, why are you in the kitchen when you should be investigating my mother's murder?" Alexia sighed exasperatedly, knowing he hated being called an idiot but feeling he deserved it anyways. Besides, she was in a bad mood as it was.

"Lavell asked me to make sure your little friend doesn't mess anything up."

"Of course." Alexia picked up her backpack and set it on the counter. Taking her trapper, she dropped it on the floor again.

And that clanking noise was there again.

Ethan jumped immediately. "Hey, what's that?"

She shrugged. "Uh, I don't know, a pen or something?"

"That doesn't make that noise."

"Pencil sharpener? I don't know."

"Aren't you curious?"

"No, I don't really care."

"Well, I do."

"Well, I don't."

"Please, open it."

"No! It's my backpack."

"Do I sense someone's a bit defensive?"

"No, really! Why do you care anyways?"

"Because you're refusing."

"I wasn't being defiant before and you still pursued the issue. It only makes sense that I would be a little defensive after you tell me you want to know what's in there."

He had inched his way over to the backpack while they had been arguing, and quick as a flash, he grabbed it. Alexia grabbed the other side, and it was a tug-of-war.

"If you rip it, you die," she said.

"So let go. You know I'll win anyway."

She rolled her eyes but figured there was no way she could go up against a full-grown male when, granted, she was strong for her age but her arm wrestling with teachers proved to be ineffective. So Alexia let go.

He pounced on the front pouch. Nothing except an old grammar test she had folded into a fan because the school's air conditioning was broken.

Second pouch. Nothing important again. There were a couple pencils, the house key, and a roll of tape she'd used for homework once and never taken out again.

He already looked in the unzipped first big pocket, where her trapper had been, and there was nothing else in there. The last and final pocket was obviously the source of the clanking noise. He unzipped it, and Alexia almost expected music in the background rising to a swell, and he almost went in slow motion.

At that second the doorbell rang.

And he found something rather unusual. Something Alexia had never seen, but it was in her backpack.

**A/N: Yeah, it's me again. Just want to thank all my wonderful reviewers (you rock!) for taking the time to read these strange and often top-of-my-head stories. I would reply to each of you by name, but that takes a long time (well, I'm lazy, okay?) and for most of you I wouldn't have anything else to say but thanks. So thanks to you all out there!**

**Katie is my friend (that's not her name), but her dad didn't go crazy and her mom isn't in the Army by any means. Besides, for any of you wondering, my name is neither Alexia nor Amanda. I just liked those when I was little and it's been my alias ever since. Teehee, cheezmunky, you crack me up. Katie is...gulp...my name, but sadly it's not Kate's Katie. It doesn't stand for Caitlin (or Caitlyn, however it's spelled. Who knows? It could be a K, for all I know). Sniffle. It stands for Kathryn. It's a sad world. When I was a couple years younger I wanted to change my name to Alexandria, or Alexia, because they were awesome, but before that it was Alex. I was obsessed with names that could go boy/girl. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. My horrible childhood secrets...yes...well, I guess I'm still a child...shutting up now.**


	4. Mwahahahahahaha

**Disclaimer: I do not and never will own NCIS. I probably won't until magic is proved real and there's living proof ghosts and vampires exist. Then I would run, and the owner of NCIS would probably go crazy, in which I would not own it anymore, for they would not let an insane person be in charge of such a wonderful TV show. The ratings would drop and I would be hunted down and shot.**

**A/N: Yay! I have more reviews! Teemwadiddlyhahee! (That's my new phrase of the week. It changes, you know.) I've been busy with school and piano (ugh!) and a whole bunch of other stuff, so I haven't gotten this up as quickly as I could. The rest of the story isn't written yet, in fact it's not even up in my head. So I'll be making it up as I go. But here's chapter four:**

It was a gun. No doubt the same one that had killed Sam.

And it was in _her _backpack. Why her backpack?

Ethan was smirking. "So, I think we've got a suspect" He ran off to the bedroom. "Hey, Rob"

Alexia was still standing in shock when her father came in. "You- you murdered Sam"

Katie came trotting through the house and stopped short when she saw the scene before her.

"What? Me? Murder Mom? No way" Really, it was surprising that he was accusing her. The other members were following Rob, almost sniggering. "Why would I"

Katie gasped. "What!"

He stared at her. "Why, Alexia? Why did you"

"I DIDN'T" Alexia screamed at him. "What's with you"

"There was a gun in your backpack. A Sig Sauer, to be exact. Guess what killed your mother"

"Do I need to" Is that the only evidence they had?

"No, I guess you don't. But, yes. Plus there's fingerprints on it. So we're going to take yours and the ones on there and check them...Chris"

Chris came up and took the gun in gloved hands, and went off to the bedroom. Well, actually to her room first. No doubt to prove her guilty.

"I didn't even know she was dead until I came home from school"

"How do we know that"

"Why don't you have someone check the time of death"

"We did. Died at 7:15 this morning."

Alexia stifled a scream, almost in complete synchronization with Katie. She was home then! She had left for school at 7:30 this morning. But she hadn't heard a gunshot. Neither had Katie, and they left for school together.

"See? We have more evidence against you"

"How do you know when I left for school" "You always leave at 7:30. The bus driver's never late" Rob replied with a leer.

Alexia's mouth was hanging open. "But why would I kill her"

"I don't know. Why"

She shrugged. "I don't know either! Maybe someone used a silencer; I didn't hear a gunshot." She was starting to cry.

Katie also seemed on the verge of tears. "You- you killed..."

"You seem to know a lot about guns, young lady" Jimmy, who wasn't very talkative, told her with a grin.

"Dad has one"

"And I suppose you know where he keeps it"

"Ye" She stopped. Crap. "Yes, I do. He showed me in case of an emergency. Mom had them too" Alexia added. "Well, one."

Chris came running out. "It matches"

"And, pray tell, where did you get my fingerprints from"

He shrugged. "From your room. Your phone."

She rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous! How long does it take for fingerprint results anyways"

Chris grinned at me. "That long, missie."

Alexia looked from one face to another. "Hey, wait a second, you can't" Before she could say another word, Ethan had handcuffed her hands. Rob smiled at her.

"Anything to say, Alexia"

Katie's eyes widened but she made no move to stop the adults from arresting her friend- how could she? There were four of them and two kids.

"MURDERER" Alexia screamed as loud as she could. "YOU KILLED HER"  
"Aah, so wrong, yet half right. I didn't pull the trigger. It's quite obvious from the evidence you did. At 7:15 this morning."

Jimmy came at her with a gag.

"Wait! One last question" Alexia turned to Rob. "Why was her stomach split open"

He shrugged. "Who knows? I didn't kill her- maybe to look as if the killers wanted something?"

"Like she swallowed something? Something you wanted" She'd gone too far, she guessed, because Jimmy gagged her quite efficiently.

"We'll tell police she wasn't cooperating" Ethan told Rob evilly, turning to Alexia with a cruel grin.

At that moment Katie bolted and ran.

The last thing both girls remembered was Chris coming at Alexia with the gun and bringing it down as hard as possible on her head.

-

"I don't know, something still doesn't seem right" Kate said as she paced the NCIS bullpen.

"Drop it, Kate" Tony told her without looking up. "It was his _wife_."

"Still" She stopped and turned to Tony. "Really, think about it. He didn't seem that upset that his wife had just been murdered. In fact, he was rather cold to his daughter, don't you think"

"Yeah, I noticed that too" Gibbs remarked as he came walking in, coffee in one hand, a thick file in the other. "I checked- his team was never assigned that case."

Kate mouthed an "I told you so" to Tony, who sighed but admitted silent defeat.

"So, now what" McGee asked, looking from team member to team member.

"We go back there, Probie" Tony told him slowly, as if speaking to a child.

Kate rolled her eyes and looked to Gibbs for confirmation.

"Yep, we do."

-

_Ding-dong._

_Ding-dong._

"Damn it" Gibbs said as he pressed the doorbell for the third time.

_Ding-dong._

**Ooh, freaky, isn't it? I bet it was just the best little chapter of any little story you've ever read...or not. Actually, I'm getting input off this from my friend, who shall ever be referred to after this as "Nina". Or "VJ". I haven't decided yet. Oh, what the heck, Nina. She hates that name. And if she reads this- hahahahahaha! Oh, yeah, RR, please! And I suck at real-life guns, in case you couldn't tell, and forensics, but I can shoot a Star Trek Romulan Phase Disruptor like nobody's business, I'll tell you that. My sister will vouch for me.**


	5. Not like anyone cares:

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story except for Rob, Ethan, Jimmy, Chris, Alexia, Sam, and Katie. Well, they were all based on real people. Most. Anyways, I don't own the NCIS guys and dolls. Not yet...**

**A/N: Do you people all hate me? I got one review- ONE- and that was from my friend "Nina" who was ordered to review. Nobody else- NOBODY- reviewed the fourth chapter, so I am setting a quota of five reviews because I'm in a bad mood today.**

"That's it" he snapped as he turned to the driveway- and realized that Rob's car was still there.

The door suddenly opened, revealing Ethan and Jimmy.

"Yes" Ethan asked with a snigger.

Kate glared at him, deciding he was the most annoying of the four team members.

He glared back but backed down when she stared harder.

"You were never assigned this case, were you" Gibbs inquired in an all-too-sweet-for-Gibbs voice.

"What" Jimmy looked confused.

"Perhaps you misunderstood" Gibbs continued in his strangely syrupy voice. "You were never assigned this case."

Ethan coughed. "Uh, now, see"

"Now, see, nothing. It's our case and you have to get out of there" Gibbs said, going back to his interrogation voice.

"But we've got a suspect" Jimmy squealed.

"What"

"A suspect- yeah" Ethan added.

"Who" Kate questioned, eyeing Ethan.

"Uh, his daughter- that brat Alexia- I mean, that little girl."

Kate's brow furrowed. "_Her_"

"Yeah, her."

Gibbs pushed his way through the doorframe. "Where is she"

Jimmy pointed towards the kitchen.

All six people moved towards the kitchen, the two from Rob's team trailing miserably.

Alexia was bound and gagged in a chair, a gun to her head.

Rob turned to Gibbs and his team. "What're you doing back"

"Why are you holding a gun to her head"

"I asked you first."

Gibbs gave him a classic Gibbs glare before answering. "You were never assigned this case."

He raised his eyebrows. "Aah, so I wasn't. But you let me in, therefore it's mine. Plus, it was my wife."

"So I ask you, why are you holding your daughter at gunpoint"

"She killed Sam."

"How do you know"

Rob smirked at Alexia, who gave Rob a glare that would've given Gibbs a run for his money. "Well, we found a gun in her backpack, a SIG Sauer, that killed Sam, plus her fingerprints were on it- and no one else was home with Sam at the time of death"

_This seems too set up_, Gibbs thought to himself as he interrupted. "Give us the gun and the body. And release the girl."

Rob shook his head. "I don't think so, Agent Gibbs."

"Well, Agent Lavell, you illegally took this case, so I think it's under the law that you have to forfeit all evidence and suspects to us."

Rob cocked his head. "Do I? Well, at least keep her tied up."

Gibbs smiled. "Of course. Just so we can hear her story- take the gag off."

Rob looked at him angrily. "Now, see here"

"Now, see _here_, Agent Lavell- it's either the gag or everything, and right about now I'm ready to let her go free"

"And leave a killer on the loose"

"How do we know she's a killer" Kate challenged.

"You, shut up" Ethan snapped. "Honestly, a woman" he muttered to himself, but she heard it anyway.

"_Excuse me_" she shouted back. "What did you say"

Ethan smiled coldly and was about to answer back when Rob took the gag off of Alexia and she interrupted him.

"Oh, shut up, Kustriz."

He looked to her in surprise, then in disgust. With a mutter of something, he turned his back to the team and held a hushed discussion with Chris.

Alexia flexed her jaw a bit, then glared at her father. "My side to the story- I didn't kill her. I didn't put the gun in my backpack"

"Oh, that's a great defense" Rob murmured.

"Why would I want to kill her" she screamed. "Why? Really! Is there a valid reason out there that would justify my mother's murder"

Rob rolled his eyes.

"You seem heartbroken over Mom's death" Alexia said, changing tactics.

"Hey, I am! I just have mixed emotions, you know, 'cause my daughter killed her"

"How do you know that"  
"Alexia, all the evidence points to you"

"Since when do you arrest someone on a whim? On an hour's evidence? Don't you normally do the whole crime scene and talk to all the contacts possible? Like Katie, for instance, who saw unfairly you arrested me"

Rob floundered for a moment, then snarled at Alexia"You don't even work at NCIS! You have no idea what we do"

"But she's right" Gibbs said quietly. "She's exactly right. You had no excuse to arrest Alexia, therefore, she is set free and you have no platform to stand on."

Rob angrily took a knife from the kitchen drawer and chopped Alexia's bonds apart, getting a yelp from the girl when he cut into skin.

She was pushed roughly from him, nursing her cut wrists and ankles, when he chucked the gun at the team suddenly.

He hit Kate in the head, who was too surprised to duck. She gasped as her hand went to her head, the other unconsciously reaching for her own gun.

In fact, all the team's hands were on their own guns.

"Sorry" Rob muttered. "Didn't mean to hit you." But his voice had a tinge of satisfaction to it.

She muttered a couple things of her own before stepping away carefully from the gun as McGee started to pick it up, always ready with gloves and an evidence bag. Her hand came away from her head red, and Alexia glared at Rob: he had done the same to Kate as he had done to her.

"You wanted the evidence, you got it" he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"I'm about to bring you up on charges for insubordination and resisting the law," Gibbs said smoothly. "So if you will please not injure anymore of my team members, I will not feel inclined to injure you back."

Kate noticed that Alexia looked as if she'd been hit on the head with the gun as well. A red streak was evident under the girl's brown hair, giving her unusual blood-colored highlights near her hairline.

"Would you kindly not throw the body at us" Tony inquired.

Rob pretended to laugh. "Ha, aren't we funny- I remember you, DiNozzo, perhaps? Oh- than that lady I hit with the gun must be the lovely Kate Todd."

"Uh, how did you know that" McGee asked him, cocking his head to one side with the evidence bag in one hand.

"Hmm, I don't know you"

"Timothy McGee" McGee supplied eagerly.

"-but I've heard of them through gossip, you know, and Gibbs as well" Rob answered.

Alexia raised her eyebrows. "Come on, I'll get you some disinfectant" she told Kate, leading her to the bathroom, leaving the seven men sitting in stony silence.

**A/N: Okay, I repeat, review or this story will forever be in the recesses of my computer. If just Va- "Nina" reviews, I will be angry, and therefore I will not write.**


	6. The Plot Thickens

**A/N: This is a birthday present for Yo/"Nina"...if it gets on the site by then. Oh well, it's supposed to be on here by the 21st, and if it's not, it's supposed to be. I don't care much...sorry about it being so late- Mom banned me from the computer last Thursday and I forgot about writing it until about 1:30 AM, the time right now...so I hope it's halfway decent.**

**I guess if I beg for reviews I get them. So review, please! Yay, people reviewed...lots of people reviewed...**

**And shiri, I couldn't care less if people said my story sucked- I like it when people criticize my work. Of course, it's obviously better when they say it's good, but nobody's perfect, right?**

**Do I even need to do a disclaimer anymore? Yeah, I don't own them, you people know that by now! Like I magically acquired them between now and last Thursday- really. I suppose it's possible...anyways.**

"Is he always like that?" Kate asked immediately as Alexia closed the door to the bathroom.

Alexia shrugged as she lifted a blue box out of the cupboard. "I don't know, he's been weird lately. I never thought he'd hurt Mom, though-"

"So you think he did shoot her?"

Alexia opened the box and took out the disinfectant and some bandages. "Well, I'm not saying that- I really don't know what to think. You never think of your father being one to kill his wife, but then again, enough people do it that it's a possibility...how'd my fingerprints get on the gun?"

"I suppose it's possible that they were lifted from something else- I don't know, though. We'll ask Abby."

"Who?"

"Our forensic specialist. You'll like her- ow!" Kate's hand automatically went to her forehead as Alexia rubbed it with disinfectant.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "It's gotta be done, you know."

"Yeah, I know...speaking of which, what happened to you?" Kate pointed to Alexia's own head, where her brown hair was reddened.

Alexia peered at her reflection in the mirror. "Uh, that must've been when Dad hit me with the gun-"

"He hit you?"

"Well, to knock me unconscious, I suppose. But yeah, he did." Alexia finished putting the bandage on Kate's head and was about to put the supplies away when Kate snatched them away.

"Your turn."

Alexia rolled her eyes but stayed still. "Do you suppose Gibbs has arrested him yet?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. It sounds like something he'd do."

"Why? Does he like arresting people?"

Kate smiled. "Well, only if they've done something wrong...and I think he's pretty sure Rob's guilty of some crime. If it's not murder, it's aiding a murder, or insubordination, or not cooperating with the law, or child abuse- he could probably get him on that, actually. There's maybe a dozen things he could try arresting Rob for and prove half of them. He could get him to confess everything- he's a great interrogator."

"So what do you do? Or what did you do before?"

"We all do everything- I was in the Secret Service."

Alexia's eyebrows raised. There was Rob's audible voice from the kitchen, but she paid no attention. "Really? That's cool. We had to take a job survey for our career unit and it said I should be a federal agent." As an afterthought, she added, "My dad loses his temper a lot."

"Really? Well, seeing as your dad's an agent-"

"Probably not for long," Alexia said, shrugging. "Well, I hope not, especially if he's the one who shot Mom. Actually, he wouldn't have. He would've gotten someone else to do the dirty work for him. Probably one of his team. They're all idiots."

"I'm inclined to agree..." Kate finished the bandaging of Alexia's head and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"I feel like an exercise guru," Alexia commented, gingerly feeling her head. "You know, with the sweatband and all..."

"Yeah," Kate agreed.

"You think the guys out there have found anything to talk about?"

"Probably they've been questioned and possibly arrested. You know, we're going to need your statement and anyone else who's been around-"

"Yeah, I figured. Dad's team didn't get anything from me- made me wonder. You'll want to talk to my friend Katie as well. She left with me for school and saw Dad take me and accuse me of murder."

Kate nodded and they made their way out of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen with the seven men, it was deadly silent.

"So, I suppose you're going to arrest me?" Rob asked with a definite sneer.

"They can't," supplied Ethan with an air of superiority. "They've got nothing to pin you on."

"They could try insubordination," Jimmy thought aloud.

"Perhaps child abu-" Chris stopped short of finishing his thought with a loud cough.

"What?" McGee inquired, obviously knowing what the man was about to say.

"Nothing. You've got nothing to go on with him," Chris answered, much too quickly.

"Ah," Tony said, nodding. "Yeah, nothing. What was that he was going to say? I could've sworn it was 'child abuse', boss."

"Now why would he say a thing like that?" Gibbs asked in a curious voice. "McGee?"

"Uh, because of his daughter," McGee responded uncertainly. "Maybe he hits her."

"Yes, perhaps he does..."

"I don't! I have never laid a hand on her!"

"Do we have proof of that?"

"You could've asked Sam, but you can't now," Rob replied sarcastically.

"What about Alexia? Couldn't we ask her?"

"She'd try everything to get me in jail."

"Now why is that?"  
"Because she doesn't like me- you know teenagers. She has a very vivid imagination, you know."

"Vivid enough to imagine her mother being murdered?"

"If she had seen it, she would've told you," Ethan told them. "Wouldn't she?"

"Did she tell you anything?" Tony asked in a inquisitive voice.

Jimmy shook his head. "No. Nothing."

Gibbs, Tony, and McGee all caught Rob's obvious eye-rolling. "Nothing?" Gibbs asked.

"No, nothing," Rob confirmed. "She didn't say a thing. I think she was in shock-"

"I wonder why?" Tony muttered.

"Well, she did just see her mother get murdered!" Chris exclaimed.

"_See_ her mother get murdered?" Gibbs squinted. "See? I thought she didn't know anything."

"Well, you know- not see, physically, see her murdered...but she saw her dead, you know. That's enough of a shock as it is- if she saw her murdered, why wouldn't she say anything!" Chris finally erupted, slamming his fist down on the counter for emphasis.

"Unless she was scared of something," Gibbs observed, cocking his head to one side. "What would she be scared of?" He looked pointedly at Rob.

"I don't know!" Rob shook his head. "Are you implying she'd be scared of _me_?"

"I wasn't implying anything."

"I didn't kill her. I'll swear on her life I didn't kill her."

McGee suddenly spoke up. "If you killed her, her life must've not meant that much to you to begin with. Right?"

Tony cracked a half-smile. "Right, Probie. Very good logic."

"You have no proof!" Rob suddenly yelled. "You have no proof at all! No proof that I killed her! I didn't kill her! My hand was never- NEVER -on that gun! Any forensic specialist can tell you that- ask Abby or whatever her name is, she'll prove my story right-"

"But will she find more fingerprints on that gun?" Gibbs reasoned. "Will there perhaps another set? Just because you didn't pull the trigger doesn't mean that you didn't kill her."

"I didn't!" Rob screamed, sinking to the hardwood floor on his knees. "I never wouldn't killed her! I loved her!"

Kate and Alexia walked in and froze at the sight of Gibbs glaring down Rob, who was cowering on the floor, sobbing.

Gibbs eyed him like he would've looked at a particularly disgusting piece of garbage. "Did you? Then why, when we first came, were you not as upset?"

Rob shook his head rapidly. "I- I don't know, I just- I didn't-"

"What's going on?" Alexia asked as she and Kate stayed rooted to the spot in the dining room.

"Your father was just telling us how he didn't kill your mother," Tony supplied as Gibbs kept staring down Rob.

Alexia's eyes hardened. "Is he, now? What's his best argument for that, huh? That he _loved _her?"

Rob looked to Alexia and stopped his crying. "I did- don't you forget that-"

"Then why don't you love _me_? I'm the only part of her left, now, and all you can do is hit me on the head with a gun!"

Tony gave McGee a look, and they both looked to Gibbs, who looked happy that he could at least get him on child abuse.

**A/N: Yeah, it's a bit long, but I just couldn't stop at a good place. It's kind of lame "cliffhanger", but it's good enough for me, so it better be good enough for you. As a note, I do realize that in the first chapter there were some "me"s and "my"s, and possibly some "I"s, and that was because I wrote the first part originally in first person. I thought I caught all of them, though..rats. Only two people have noticed it, though...goody! And witness statements- yeah, I realize I should've done those too, but only one person has noticed that...yay! Huh, maybe I should screen my stories more carefully. Oh well. It's good enough for me, and it's good enough for my proposed "beta", who technically isn't my beta. She reads my stories and all, but after they're posted. Hmm. Maybe I should send them to her before via telegram on NationStates. Yeah, Yo, you know what I'm talking about. The rest of you- create a nation! Express your creativity! **


	7. Not worth waiting for

**A/N: ducks as various rotten foods fly past her head Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have not updated for what, a month and a half? Hmm. I only realized it once we came back from Texas and I was reminded on the 21st of March. Ahem.**

**Well, I am back in action- or, I hope I am, who knows -and it's all the plot bunnies' fault, because they left me alone and WOULD NOT COME. Plus, I write this on our old computer, and to get it to fanfic form it's converted to a format I can't read on this computer. Grr. So I had to reread it tonight to remember what was going on -sniffle. Sad when I can't remember my own story.**

**So anyways-**

**Disclaimer: I do not own them. If I did, at the rate I write my stories, we would get maybe about eight new episodes a year. Well, if I can only do one chapter for a month and a half, that's two chapters/episodes every three months. So, yeah.**

**But now I have inspiration! I am listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack so I can't really sing along and get distracted! Music helps me think.**

**Onto the story-**

McGee, Tony, and Kate were finishing up the scene while Gibbs stayed in the kitchen glaring at the other four men.

"You said you had a friend over this morning?" he asked Alexia, keeping his eye on Rob's team.

"Um, yeah," she replied, glancing nervously around at the five men. "Yeah, Katie."

"We're going to need to bring her in for interrogation. Do you think she could come with us to the NCIS headquarters?"

"I'll call her," Alexia said, glad for any excuse to get out of the kitchen. The room radiated mistrust.

She went to her room, walking past her parents' bedroom, and she was reminded of her mother. She didn't dare glance into the room- she knew she would be having nightmares of the grisly scene afterwards.

With trembling fingers she dialed Katie's number and waited as it rang. "Um, hi, is Katie there?"

Her mother had answered. "Yes. May I ask who's calling?"

"A-Alexia."

"Just a minute, Alexia."

She heard the phone being put down and Katie's mother's footsteps walking away. Her mother would never walk again, that was sure. She shook her head violently as if to rid herself of the thoughts. Of course, it didn't work. It only gave her a splitting headache in addition to the bloody crime scene that kept running through her head.

Alexia took a deep breath as Katie came on the line. "Alexia, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"What's up, then?"

"Oh, the team that's investigating Mom's murder wants you to come to headquarters with us so they can ask you some questions. 'Cause, you know, you were there with me this morning."

"When?"

"Uh, as soon as possible, I guess. Just come over here whenever you can, they'll probably still be processing the scene."

"Let me ask my mother," Katie responded. Alexia could tell she'd put her hand over the receiver because she heard a muffled "Mom, I have to go to the headquarters for questioning". "Yeah, that's fine," she said a moment later.

"Um, okay. It probably won't take that long."

"I'll stay with you as long as you want. I know your dad can be kind of uncooperative. Do you want anything?"

"Well, no. Thanks for the offer," she added, smiling even though Katie couldn't see it.

"No problem. See you later."

"Bye."

Long after the click on the other end was gone, Alexia kept the phone in her hand, her eyes filling with tears as she struggled gamely to regain her composure. She finally swallowed, and with a newfound confidence, replaced the receiver and walked out the door.

"Yeah, Katie's coming," Alexia told Gibbs as she walked into the kitchen, her eyes still downcast to avoid eye contact.

Gibbs nodded ever-so-slightly, still staring the men down. Mentally sizing them up, he figured they would be able to withstand maybe about five minutes of intense interrogation, possibly less for the wimpy ones.

They heard a click coming from the front door, and then the door opened. Katie was standing there, with a key in hand, smiling slightly, as if not sure how she should act around her friend and these strange people.

"I take it you're Katie," Gibbs said.

She nodded. "Uh, yeah, that's me."

"Done!" Tony called from across the hall.

"Okay, we've got two cars. How are we handling this?" Gibbs asked as soon as all the people were in the room.

"Ten spots in the car, ten people," Kate observed. "Seems pretty obvious to me."

"Two of us in each car-" Tony started.

"-with three of them in one car-" Kate interrupted.

"-and the other one with Alexia and her friend," Tony finished. "Right, boss?"

Gibbs nodded, still giving the men a steely eye. "Right. Tony, Kate, take Alexia, Katie, and that guy." He pointed to Chris, who visibly trembled. "Make him sit in front. McGee and I'll take them."

Alexia allowed herself a small smile to see her father's obvious escape plan go awry. She knew he was planning something by the look of surrender on his face. He never surrendered. Never gave up, never surrendered. He wouldn't try a thing with Gibbs in the car. No doubt he would make Rob sit in front.

Gibbs threw the keys to their car to Tony and stared down Rob, who sighed heavily and reluctantly reached into his pocket for his own car keys. With an air of innocence, he pulled them out, and lunged for Gibbs with the keys between his fingers.

Gibbs easily stopped the assault, twisting Rob's arm up and out of the way, quickly prying the keys from the pained hand, and he grabbed his wrist. Yanking him out the door with obvious disregard to the other man's pains, he jerked the door to the car open and threw Rob into the front seat with no apparent concern as Rob cried out.

Alexia laughed slightly as the others were led out, and she shut the front door. Taking the house key from the clip on her jeans belt loop, she locked it securely.

As Gibbs slammed the car door shut, he couldn't hear Rob, but could easily make out the expletive that came from his lips.

**A/N: Isn't it nice to read my author's notes? I just can't resist writing them. So, was that a long enough chapter for you people? If not, tell me in a REVIEW! That's right, click the little "go" button on the bottom left of your screen and tell me what you think! If you're dying to say it sucked, tell me! If you dying to say that it's the best chapter you've ever read, say it! TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME!**

**Just think how quickly I could update if you gave me twice as many reviews as before! Maybe in two weeks! Gasp!**


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